Hi, My name is Mike. I have been fascinated with honey bee swarms for a couple of years. My channel is mostly composed of videos about them and other honey bee related subjects. I am still learning about video quality and hope it will improve in future videos.
Swarm trap details can be found at the clickable link listed below.
I don't know why you cought the queen, they were moving into the swarm box. Just leave them alone. Give them a week then move them to their permanent box.
Goodday sir. Does the fact that the bees came back empty and then running around at the entrance, cement you're assessment that the bees are busy scouting? I pressume the catch box and you're expectation of an imminent swarming also add to it. Cobus🐳
You are correct. Scout bees do not bring in pollen or nectar. They are only there to help the swarm decide if it is a suitable new home. It does not mean they will choose your trap. I have about ten traps on my property that are very easy to monitor. Just today they are all very busy. All of the traps are the same size. So I can only surmise that their choice will be based more on what the bees deem most desirable location. Thank you for your comment. I hope that helps. Good luck!
One frame of dark drawn comb and 4 frames with new foundation. 3 drops of lemon grass oil inside the entrance. Refresh it about once per week. I hope that helps. Thanks for your comment.
I am in NE Ohio. Our swarm season normally begins around the last week of April and peaks in May. This year it started late. I got my first Swarm 2 days ago. My traps are very busy today, so I hope get another one today. I leave my traps up until the end of July. I have caught several swarms in July. Swarm season may vary depending on the weather in your area. Good luck!
is it common to see bees fighting or dragging bees out. I've been seeing scouts pulling bees out, doing some bee ju-jitsu to the point of getting entangled and falling to the ground where they tussle in the grass . seen days of heavy activity, then nothing, heavy activity, then nothing. as this is my first year trying to trap swarms, i'll say it's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.but a fun noe.
So educational and straight-out realistic! I have the same initial activity in my swarm traps, but they just don't seem to come thru with the swarm. Is there anything that can be done to entice the scouts even more? It seems like they come and inspect, then in about 3 days, the interest dies. I am in northern Indiana. I have a deep appreciation for your location, in that, we experience similar geographical patterns. Thanks for your mentorship and willingness to share.
I do not know exactly what your swarm trap setup is, so I will mention a few things that might help. I assume you are using swarm trap with a similar design to those in my"Swarm Trap Construction" video. Size and volume of the trap matters a lot. I have the best results with the trap entrance facing south or east. Make sure there are no obstructions in front of the trap. Like other trees. The edge of a woods line is good. If you are not having any luck, try moving one of the traps to a new location. Scout bees seem to be very picky about location. I have about 10 traps on my property, but most of the swarms choose one or two of those locations most of the time. Once you find a "sweet spot" keep using it. I use one frame with drawn comb and the others with new foundation inside the trap(no honey). I use a couple of drops of lemon grass oil at the trap entrance and refresh it about once a week. I hope that helps. Keep trying! Thanks for your comment. Good luck!
@@beecatcher6653 Isn't this luck? sent you this message yesterday. At 3:00, I was coming home from work and checking traps and low-n-behold! There at the bottom of one of the traps was about a 9-12 inch round cluster of bees. I caught the queen and they all marched in. You're good luck! Chuckling. Seriously, I patterned my traps exactly after your design. I think that swarming in the north is a little later this year; due to the cold weather. Thanks again for your valuable advice.
Can I ask you some questions (as far as I'm concerned, you're a Bee Catching God...or close to it) I, and a friend, put out about 25 traps throughout Austin. Tell me any and all you may thing is 'wrong' or would change of what I've done. I set all my traps (13) about head height (I want to be able to get to them easily) She set all her traps about 10' high. All have been baited with swarm commander & lemongrass oil. I have a couple of spots where I set the traps in one 'area' about 100' apart (is this a waste of trap box?) I've set some traps right next to a highway (in the coooooooolest spot I've found in Austin...a little hidden oasis!) but---I'll see about if the bees agree! All traps are 5-frame nuc sized (I know this isn't ideal, but how 'bad' is it...I had all these nuc boxes I made to sell nucs in...but all my nucs died in Austin---we had super bad horrible late cold snap...something we NEVER get in Austin)...so, I put the boxes to other use. All traps have some nice nasty dark comb in them. I placed on top of a few boxes a small cup of sugar (I know the scout bees won't be into it, but I figure that eventually the bees will find it and some graduate to a scout bee...?yes,no?) I'd appreciate any help! My buddy, she did catch a swarm yesterday. I have yet to check all my boxes, but will here in the next few days. Thanks again for any tips or critique you can offer.
Thank you for your questions. I hope the following will help : 1. Hanging out more traps is not a waste of time. 100 feet apart is just fine. Spreading them out allows access to scout bees from hives that are farther away. They only travel so far to look for a new home. The bees seem to pick one on them because they like that location. You may never catch a swarm at some of the locations. Once you catch a swarm, continue to use that location in the future. I have caught multiple swarms at one location while the others remained unsuccessful. 2. I hang my traps just high enough so I can reach the entrance hole to refresh it with lemon grass oil about once a week. I have not seen any difference in my success rate based on height. It is mostly location. I had my best luck with hanging traps oriented with the entrance South or East. Hang them with the opening facing an open area like a field with nothing obstructing access to the entrance(no trees). 3. I think your biggest problem may be the size of your nuc box. Nuc boxes just aren't large enough to attract most large swarms. You can increase the volume of your nuc box by simple adding a deep nuc deep on the top and fastening them together. hang the frames in the top box. That leaves plenty of space below the frames. 4. I would not use sugar or honey. Old dark comb is the best. You will probably attract ants or other uninvited guests. Scout bees are only looking for a home that smells good and is sized to suit their needs. I hope you have good luck. This has been the worst year since I have had in since I started beekeeping. Heavy losses. Most of my friends have had the same problem. I am concerned there may not be a lot of swarms this year because so many bees died. We don't know why. Please post a comment when you get a swarm. I would like to know if you have had some success. Thanks Bee Catcher
@@beecatcher6653 Thank you so very much for the help! I've caught many swarms since I've started, but those are from posts on the internet. A small percentage of those would not have fit into a nuc. The nuc thing is because that's what I had. I made many boxes to use for selling nucs. Much like a throw away box (it was scrap lumber). But--I get it my chances of getting swarms would be better. That decision was a compromise. I've done this 6 years and this winter was my worst year for losses. I lost 100% of my nucs. That hurt. Same happened to friends! I'll keep you posted. Right now, got to pack up and go get a cutout about an hour away from here. Thanks again!
The thrill of the catch. Last year was the first time I watched as a swarm entered one of my traps. It is awe inspiring. Many of my traps I have in the woods and on friends farms so I'm not always lucky to see the swarm enter...but last year yes. My husband also mentioned in was exactly 1 year ago today (April 5th). We are in North Georgia.
Not sure why you can't see. Click the down arrow to the right of the title below the video. If that does not work, try this: drive.google.com/file/d/1xYAdy7TKH9Q5SVErDdkGBucC4FvUcaWT/view?usp=drivesdk Please let me know what happens. Thanks
I live in N E Ohio. I put my traps out before the end of April. Swarm season normally starts around the 1st of May in this area, depending on the weather. It does not hurt to put them out a little early, just in case they swarm a little early. I think they do some scouting before they leave the colony. Thanks for watching my video.
Isn't it fascinating how they make unified decisions. And then how they return to the swarm and tell everyone to return. How they find there way around is amazing.
If you had two or three brood frames in those boxes then you could have just placed her inside until you could get them into a standard hive body the next day . After it got dark close the entrance and bring down that swarm box and place it in a bee yard . Open the entrance so the bees can do their orientation flights. Later that day transfer the swarm into it’s new home . I would add an Apivar strip or two in right away to kick any mites to the curb before they begin brood rearing.
Here in Virginia last summer I actually have witnessed the highest level of swarming right after a rainstorm or right after two or three days of light rainfall . Now since I have extra equipment that bees were in I will be setting up more swarm traps. Each one will have at least two used brood frames where I left about a quarter inch of brood comb attached at the top bars .
Just finished building this off your plan - Thank you. Question on the small side vents. Is there any reason you did not just drill small hole instead of using the small vent plug and drilling them? Or drilling a larger hole and putting 1/8 screen on the inside? What size are the small vent holes?
Steven Thanks for your question. There is no reason you must use the white plug. It is simply what I had available at the time. I do like the idea that the holes are flush with the outside of the box. It might be less likely to let rain in. The plug fits nicely into a 1" dia hole. I would not make it any larger. I noticed that the bees check out those holes when they are scouting the box. One inch seems to work just fine. Use whatever you have available. I have used these traps for 7 or 8 years without paint. They still look good. They eventually get a gray weathered look that is nice and blends in well with the tree bark. Good luck catching swarms! That is the most exciting part of beekeeping for me.
You got one Queen! There is another one in the box! Put a hive near and put her in the hive and there is a good chance you will end up with 2 hives of bees
Yes it does I agree. But when you put bait hives up and move them to a new location before they have built comb and brood they might abscond. So its like an insurance policy when moving a newly forming hive. Bees hate disturbance in the early stages. Just taking a lid will cause them to abscond if they are not established properly.
Really interesting to see the different methods that can be used - I’ve never seen it done this way. Hoping to catch my first swarm here in the UK - I’ve just made a few swarm traps and put them out....fingers crossed!
I just caught a swarm tonight at my boss's house 7,18,20 it's my first one im Perry happy about it. It had to come from one of his 27 hives. He doesn't take care of them like he should. He had over 100 hives last year.
Thank you for your videos! I built my first 2 traps to your specs, and the last few days I’ve been seeing lots of scout bees going in and out Should I anticipate a swarm because of that or is that just normal?
would have taken that Queen and put her in a Box close by the swarm location and kept her caged till you could look in swarm box for maybe another Queen
Yes in my swarm video there where three Queens Not many people know this but most swarms will kill other queens and just have one but some can have two laying Queens in one hive. Usually end up being massive hives and needing plenty of brood box sized supers.
